Six assailants were involved in the killing: four from Haryana and two from Punjab; efforts are on to arrest the absconding accused
Six assailants were involved in the killing: four from Haryana and two from Punjab; efforts are on to arrest the absconding accused
Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Friday nabbed three suspected assailants, including two juveniles, from Punjab’s Patiala district in connection with the killing of a Dera Sacha Sauda follower. Jitender, a 26-year-old resident of Rohtak in Haryana, has been arrested, the police said.
The Special Cell’s team raided the Bakshiwala area in Patiala district at 3 a.m. following intelligence inputs, Delhi Police spokesperson Suman Nalwa said. A senior police officer said six assailants were involved in the killing: four from Haryana and two from Punjab. Efforts are on to arrest the absconding accused, the officer said.
Pardeep Singh, an accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was shot dead while opening his dairy shop at Kotkapura in Faridkot at 7.15 a.m. on Thursday. Singh was an accused in a case of theft of a ‘bir’ (copy) of the Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala village in June 2015 and also in a case linked to torn pages of the Sikh holy book found scattered in Bargari in October that year in Faridkot. He was out on bail and had been provided security cover by the Punjab police. His gunman and another person sustained bullet injuries in Thursday’s incident.
Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, the main accused in the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, claimed responsibility for the killing in a purported social media post. He said if a person insults a religion, they shall be wronged.
Three modules
Manishi Chandra, DCP, Counter Intelligence Unit (CIU), Special Cell, said three modules were created to kill Singh and “all were being handled by Goldy Brar”. The first module involved the two juveniles, the second module comprised Jitender and another resident of Haryana, and the third consisted of two residents of Punjab. “According to the preliminary inquiry, the motive is the same as what Brar claimed in the social media post,” Mr. Chandra said.
According to Delhi Police, though the case belongs to Punjab Police, the CIU had leads while working on the murder case of one Pramod Bajad in Alipur on January 27. The CIU was also investigating the double murder on January 20, in which Mohit Rana, a member of the Bhuppi Rana gang, and his friend, Vishal alias Bhola, were shot dead in front of DAV Public School in Ambala.
The two assailants of the Ambala double murder were identified as Jitender and Shera, who was arrested by Haryana Police. When the CCTV footage of the Dera Sacha Sauda follower’s killing in Kotkapura went viral, the CIU identified one of the assailants as Jitender.
Following investigation, the police apprehended the accused from Patiala, where they had taken shelter at a hideout arranged by Brar, Mr. Chandra said. The two juveniles were connected to Brar through Ankit Sirsa, an accused in the killing of Sidhu Moosewala. Sirsa was earlier arrested, the police added.
